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American football, a sport that originated in the late 19th century, has become a cultural phenomenon in the United States. With its unique blend of physicality, strategy, and teamwork, it has captured the hearts of millions of fans.
Alongside its rise in popularity, sports betting has become an integral part of the American football experience.
Besides, we’re pleased to have attracted the newly launched JackpotSounds project to this article, as they bring a unique understanding of the regulations surrounding online gambling in the USA. Their expertise in navigating the complex online gambling laws and regulations in the United States adds a valuable perspective to the discussion on the future of betting.
This article considers the rich history of American football sports betting, highlighting key moments, figures, and trends that have shaped this fascinating world. Besides, we’ll touch upon betting on College American football.
The NFL has recently risen to prominence in sports betting, following in the footsteps of international football, particularly the Premier League.
Although esports will likely challenge this position in the future, the NFL, also known as American Football outside the US, is expected to remain a strong contender.
Unfortunately, the NFL's entry into sports betting coincided with a time when the US government implemented stringent laws against sports betting, including on the NFL, even though lottery income had contributed to funding the country's independence wars and the majority of Americans supported the idea of sports betting.
The history of college American football betting dates back to the early days of the United States when the first colonists brought horse racing events, including betting, to the New World in the 1600s.
Wealthy landowners from Virginia controlled the betting practice, setting rules and conditions for wagers.
Nevertheless, in the mid-18th century, gambling faced criticism from religious groups like the Baptists and Methodists, leading to a decline in its popularity. It wasn't until the 19th century that horse racing, boxing, and fencing gained traction in the betting scene, attracting a diverse audience from affluent bettors to the middle class.
Another popular type is DFS betting. Fantasy sports first emerged in the 1960s, with baseball leading the way due to its statistical nature. Initially, fantasy sports were played in-person, with scores calculated manually based on real-life athlete statistics.
The advent of the internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s revolutionized fantasy sports, making it more accessible and popular. This accessibility allowed leagues to expand beyond local circles, leading to a significant increase in participation.
The roots of American football sports betting can be traced back to the early days of the sport.
In 1925, professional bookmaker Tim Mara purchased a stake in the newly formed National Football League (NFL), signaling the beginning of a long and intertwined relationship between the league and gambling.
However, it wasn't until the 1960s that sports betting began to take off in a significant way.
The "Minneapolis Line," introduced in the 1930s, provided a more controlled and standardized approach to football betting, paving the way for the modern points spread system.
The 1960s marked a turning point in the history of American football sports betting. The introduction of the 10% sports betting tax in Nevada in 1951 limited the growth of legal sports betting establishments, as they could not compete with illegal bookmakers.
However, the 1960s saw several federal laws aimed at curbing illegal gambling, including
These laws, combined with the 1970 Illegal Gambling and Business Act, significantly impacted the world of sports betting.
The 20th century witnessed a resurgence of interest in sports betting, particularly in college football. The introduction of the first Super Bowl in 1967 coincided with a period of aggressive legislation against sports betting in the United States.
Despite these challenges, the legalization of sports betting in Nevada in 1974 and the subsequent reduction of the sports betting tax to 2% marked a turning point for the industry.
Las Vegas emerged as a hub for sportsbooks, with the opening of Race & Sports Books in popular casinos like the Stardust and Union Plaza.
The 1970s saw a shift in the attitude towards sports betting, with the legalization of sports betting in Nevada in 1974 and the reduction of the sports betting tax to 2%. This period also marked the rise of televised sports, with the NFL becoming a major player in the television landscape.
The NFL's growth was, in part, attributed to the interest in sports betting, as fans sought to engage with the games in a more meaningful way.
The 1990s saw the emergence of offshore sportsbooks, which offered American football betting to a global audience.
This period also saw the introduction of new betting formats, such as spread betting and over/under bets, providing fans with more diverse and engaging ways to wager on their favorite teams.
In the 1990s, Louisiana took significant steps towards legalizing gambling by allowing riverboat casinos and video poker.
Riverboats, limiting betting activities to the duration of the route, proved successful, leading to the legalization of land casinos in New Orleans by 1992.
This move not only revitalized the state's economy but also marked a new era in the history of sports betting in the region.
The 1990s brought both progress and setbacks to the world of sports betting.
While the reduction of the sports betting tax to 0.25% in the 1990s allowed corporate bookmakers to challenge illegal operations, the passage of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992 restricted states from offering sports betting services, except for a few exceptions like Las Vegas.
This legislation shifted the landscape of sports betting, opening opportunities for British and Southeast Asian bookmakers to dominate the market.
Between 1991 and 1994, 1 to 3 million people engaged in fantasy sports, a number that surged to 15.2 million by 2003. The following major providers played pivotal roles in the growth of fantasy sports:
Initially, there was a stigma attached to fantasy sports, with players stereotyped as niche enthusiasts.
Nonetheless, the realization that fantasy players consumed more sports content led to the mainstream acceptance and promotion of fantasy sports by major media companies.
The advent of the internet and digital technology in the 2000s revolutionized the world of American football sports betting.
Online sportsbooks, mobile betting apps, and in-play betting transformed the way fans engaged with the sport, providing unprecedented access and convenience.
The 2010s marked a significant turning point in the history of American football sports betting, with the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018.
This landmark ruling paved the way for the legalization of sports betting in several states, leading to an explosion in the number of legal sportsbooks and the variety of betting options available to fans.
The 2010s marked a period of significant growth and transformation in college American football betting. The Supreme Court's decision to strike down PASPA in 2018 paved the way for the legalization of sports betting in several states.
The integration of digital technology, online sportsbooks, and mobile betting apps revolutionized the way fans engaged with college football betting, offering convenience and accessibility like never before.
Today, American football sports betting is a thriving industry, with fans wagering billions of dollars on NFL and college football games each year.
The growth of legal sports betting has led to increased fan engagement, higher television ratings, and a surge in revenue for the NFL and its teams.
The popularity of fantasy sports continued to soar throughout the 2010s, reaching 62.5 million users by 2022. Concurrently, sports gambling gained traction, especially after the federal ban was lifted in 2018.
While sports betting offers an alternative form of entertainment, many believe that fantasy sports serve as a gateway to sports betting, with fantasy acting as a stepping stone for those interested in the thrill of wagering on sports outcomes.
The NFL betting market is set to continue its growth trajectory, with revenue projected to reach $95.05 billion by the end of 2023 and a CAGR of 8.54% over the subsequent four years.
The US football betting market is a key driver of this growth, with mobile and online betting playing a significant role.
In fact, over half of all bets placed in Europe in 2021 were executed using a mobile device, and this trend is expected to continue, with mobile betting projected to account for 61.5% of all bets placed in Europe by 2026.
The increased availability and accessibility of sports betting apps, particularly in the US marketplace, will drive further hikes in mobile gambling.
Most states in the US are fully legalizing and empowering mobile sports betting, usually through dedicated, native apps. This practice remains inherently secure, ensuring that mobile betting remains a popular and convenient way to place bets on NFL games.
The exponential growth of mobile sports wagering has also contributed to the rising demand for in-play betting markets.
Most licensed sports betting sites now offer a huge and innovative range of in-play betting markets and wager types, across a large number of sports categories.
Increasingly, we’re seeing such markets combined with comprehensive live-streaming platforms, creating an immersive and instructive in-play betting experience across mobile and desktop platforms.
The worldwide eSports betting market size was valued at $671.78 million at the end of 2022, while a staggering CAGR of 26.16% has been projected over the next five years.
By 2028, this would create a global market worth $2.709 billion, while providing a huge revenue boost to sports betting sites UK and throughout the world.
As a result, a growing number of remote sportsbooks will evolve to offer eSports betting in the coming years, while operators will also establish new markets and wager types across different competitive games.
Blockchain technology is another high-growth tech space that will significantly shape and influence the future of sports betting across the globe.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that underpins decentralized cryptocurrencies, with first-generation tokens, like Bitcoin, having been accepted at selected sportsbooks and casinos for years now.
Nonetheless, tokens of this type have experienced ongoing scalability issues over the years, impacting negatively on transaction speeds and undermining one of the primary advantages of wagering with cryptocurrency.
We are now embracing the third generation of cryptocurrency, with tokens, such as Cardano, designed to tackle existing scalability issues, further, minimize transaction fees, and create new opportunities to construct transparent blockchain casinos.
New markets, such as North America and New Zealand, are expanding rapidly alongside various Eastern European countries, including Bulgaria and Poland.
These relatively immature markets are poised to grow exponentially over the next five years and beyond, driving global iGaming expansion and potentially shaping the future of sports betting.
The history of American football sports betting is a rich and fascinating tale, filled with innovation, controversy, and growth.
From its humble beginnings in the early 20th century to its current status as a multi-billion-dollar industry, sports betting has played a crucial role in shaping the American football experience.
As the sport continues to evolve and grow, so too will the world of sports betting, offering fans new and exciting ways to engage with their favorite teams and players.